Do I Need an IUD?

Refinery29, a media platform that shares all things pop-culture and lifestyle recently posted the following video.

Women are encouraged to have an IUD implanted immediately before president elect Donald Trump repeals the Affordable Care Act and thereby ends subsidized “free” birth control covered in the law. This would mean no more Pill Club or quick trip to Planned Parenthood. Whether our president elect will do so is yet to be determined. Planned Parenthood reports a 900% increase in the number of IUDs implanted; over the last month that’s 9 more women for every single woman who had an IUD implanted before the election.

Women fear that if they no longer have access to free contraception that their potential in life and their current lifestyle will be ripped from them leaving them vulnerable, humiliated, and pregnant.

Before you or someone you know rushes off to have an IUD implanted, take a moment to read my friend’s story. I will call her Ally for anonymity purposes:

“Before my return to my Catholic Faith and a better understanding of what real love really meant I tried most kinds of birth control. I began with the pill, used a ring, and ultimately had an IUD implanted.

While I would never recommend any of them for their own various reasons, the IUD had the worst complications by far. Doctors told me I would have some brief spotting for a few weeks after insertion. The IUD basically created a full menstrual period or hemorrhage for over a year non-stop.

I went back to the doctor’s office three times during that time and doctors kept telling me it was okay and it would go away. I suffered from severe depression and finally had the IUD removed. Insertion and removal were extremely painful.

Your body has natural defenses to attack and remove foreign bodies from itself. It will do the same with an IUD. I would never recommend an IUD to anyone. There are natural alternatives to prevent pregnancy like Natural Family Planning. Sticking a metal or plastic piece into your body (which by the way, was created by a man) is not women’s health nor freedom.”

Ally asked to remain anonymous, but what I can tell you about this thirtysomething-year-old woman is this: She isn’t different from the rest of you. Ally has faced the challenges of a career, education, intimate relationships, and the desire to be the best woman she can be. In the midst of that she has chosen a life free from hormonal contraception. In doing so she has found a lifestyle of integrated sexuality that is free from the fear of a sexually transmitted disease, a pregnancy outside of marriage, and the heartbreak of a sexual relationship lacking long term commitment and fidelity.

Ally’s decision didn’t suddenly take away her freedom and ambition Now, Ally excitedly anticipates her upcoming marriage to a man willing to love her for the choices she has made, free of contraception and sex outside of marriage. She has chosen a partner who will make the commitment to be faithful, true, and permanently hers.

People are saying the possible elimination of “free” contraception will negatively impact women’s lives for years to come . . .

My life without contraception hasn’t been one of oppression, lack of education, or loving relationships. My life and those of many others is a testament to the fact that a woman can achieve great things without her sexuality holding her back. I am a working professional who loves entrepreneurship and not only has a university education but a graduate degree as well. I’m even working in the field that I chose to work in prior to finishing school (that can’t be said for many people of my generation). My achievements have nothing to do with hormonal contraception. I chose to be grounded in reality and have humility before God. I worked hard, and made serious life choices not only for the good of myself but for the good of others.

Sister’s culinary school graduation

From my work with women who are navigating their sex lives and at times a crisis pregnancy, I have seen firsthand the struggles women face before, during and after the decision to use hormonal contraception. In particular having an IUD implanted.

I can tell you that no form of hormonal, physically barrier, or sterilization for birth control comes without challenges and consequences (to name a few just read here). Women know they are viewed differently in intimacy because of the way they view themselves and their reproductive organs.

I believe in love and in responsibility and I hope you do too. Which is why I encourage you to comment sharing your story of joy, sorrow, or challenge. Women shouldn’t be left in fear believing they need to have an IUD implanted to last the possible two terms of the incoming president.

Happy Feast of the Blessed Mother — immaculately conceived without sin! A woman who didn’t plan to be a mother but who had chosen a life of perpetual virginity. She willingly accepted and changed her life despite a desire to the contrary, and might I add a crisis pregnancy. May we ask her maternal intercession for women seeking to live a chaste life both in and out of marriage and for every person entrusted with this knowledge to be willing to share the truth of human love with others.